Normal to lose 200 hairs a day?

[firicia]

I heard on Dr. Oz that it's normal to lose 200 hairs a day. I do enjoy his show from time to time.

Right now I feel like I am losing a lot of hair. I always have, and this may be just because now I am paying attention as I am trying to grow it out, but how much is too much? It seems if I just touch my hair some falls out, worse if it gets combed and in the shower ick. Then again I have curls, so maybe it just seems like more, I do know it does not like being combed with my dry curls but sometimes I need to before a shower or before braiding for bed.

I just this month came here, have given up heat styling, bought a comb and threw out my hair brush, braid my hair for bed and use coconut oil on the ends. I also try to wear my hair up a lot, and only wash every 3 days. Not sure what else I can do to be more gentle, maybe it will just takes some time of doing these new things to see any difference.

I will mention though that even with all of this my hair doesn't look different really or like it is less, but I worry it effecting my hair growing out.

Anyone else feel they lose a lot, did it work against you growing out your hair?

Thanks for anything you can share.

[UltraBella]

I feel like I lose a lot, but I don't think I lose 200 hairs a day. Everyone is different though. I have very thick hair so it would be understandable if I shed more than someone who has less thickness, right ?
As long as it is not noticeably effecting your overall thickness I wouldn't worry about it. Also, since you are new here, I think there is a tendency to suddenly be paying attention to hair related things that maybe you didn't think about before. So shedding may be something you are now more aware of, which can make it seem worse.

[teela1978]

I think 200 would be on the upper end of the "normal" scale. I think a better question to ask would be is it normal for you. I had half of my thyroid taken out last year, and until my meds were worked out I was loosing 2-3 times what was normal for me... Maybe 100 hairs per day? Normal for me is more like the 30-50 range. Its hard to find real numbers to use in biology, way too much diversity among humans.

[Mesmerise]

I always heard 100 hairs a day is "normal" but as the others have said, what is normal varies widely! Some people have a lot more hair than others, and thus should generally lose more than others who have much thinner hair.

However, sometimes people go through shedding periods where they lose more hair than is normal for them. If it continues for a long period of time you can definitely notice some hair thinning (happened to me...but I was losing a LOT of hair... didn't count how many but it was scary). If you're not noticing any thinning, it's probably a perfectly normal amount.

[firicia]

Ya good points, it is different now that I am paying attention where before it seemed a little alarming but I just shrugged it off.

On and side note... maybe I am a cat and "shedding" because it is almost spring:laugh: (the fact my cat is by me has nothing to do with this joke, hahaha:love:)

[spidermom]

If you don't comb out your hair every day, then it will definitely seem like you shed a lot when you get around to doing it. Sometimes I shed a massive amount, but most of the time it seems to be about 50 hairs ... but I don't know. I've never once counted my shed hairs and never will.

[Anje]

That sounds like a heck of a lot to me. I doubt I lose 50 hairs a day.

I expect that the normal amount is a proportion of the number of hairs you have. Someone with thick hair could lose 200 hairs a day without losing thickness, perhaps, while someone with thin hair might lose thickness losing 100 hairs/day. (Note: those are arbitrary numbers I picked. If you're a i who loses 100/day, it's not necessarily cause for panic.)

[CarpeDM]

I have some days where I shed about 100 hairs a day and other days where I shed less. It just seems like there are higher shed days than others?? Anyone else find this?

[jeanniet]

I shed quite a bit; if I had to guess, I'd say 75-100 hairs average. When I brush out my hair morning and evening there's probably 30 or so hairs each time, plus what I shed out during the day. I do have a heavier shed in spring and for a couple of weeks I could be pushing closer to 150 hairs or even 200. I think saying 200 a day is normal/average is maybe a little too much.

[kwaniesiam]

200 sounds excessive. We were always taught in cosmetology school it is normal to lose 50-100 hairs a day, but most people are more in the 25-50 range.

[Slinks]

I LOVE Dr OZ :-) I really like how he talks .. he can talk about something we already know about and make it sound like you only just heard about it ..

When I decided to start growing my hair purposely I started wearing a braid to bed but noticed it was breaking off and that was the hair I was losing, plus .. that lasted all of 2 weeks, now I'm back to sleeping with it the way I used to sleep with it, when it was doing just fine, down .. you might just want to think back to how much you used to lose and how much you are now .. and work around that :-)

I suspect that he is also talking about hair that we don't see fall out ..

[Slinks]

Also, since you are new here, I think there is a tendency to suddenly be paying attention to hair related things that maybe you didn't think about before. So shedding may be something you are now more aware of, which can make it seem worse.

:-) agree, couldn't have said it better

[Meatball Head]

Well I usually freak for a second when a big chucnk comes out in the shower...then I remember that this is like 3' har rolled up into a little ball...AND it's course so obviously it'll look like a big huge chunk. I wouldn't worry about it.

[RitaCeleste]

My low ponytail was 3 inches around so I've relaxed about the shedding. I've been freaking out since my sister straightened my hair for the first time and it was so thin looking. About two and three years ago it was thinned and layered. But it seems all normal now. Some conditioners seem to make it shed more than others. As long as I don't have thin hair, I'm fine.